Get Rid of Flies With Drain Cleaning

A fly infestation, never mind the type of fly, is a hassle and a nuisance. There are wide range of flies, but there are a few key species which you may encounter in your home. These include drain flies, fruit flies and the common house fly. To get rid of them, requires a few different steps and is largely dependent on the type of fly which is infesting your home. Remedies include drain cleaning, fly traps, and fumigation. Often it is better to take precautions rather than deal with the infestation after it has begun.

Types of Flies

Knowing what type of fly you have will help you decide how to attack the infestation. Here are two of the common perpetrators:

• Drain Flies

  Drain flies, also known as moth flies, are a small species of fly that are totally harmless but can become a large nuisance if not dealt with. They are called moth flies because they look like small moths. They are roughly a ¼ inch long with wide circular wings. They are not active and are often seen close to the drains that they originate from. During the day they hardly ever move and they are more active at night. They lay their eggs in the scum inside drains where the moist organic material makes a perfect breeding ground for them.

  How to Get Rid of Drain Flies
  To get rid of drain flies, you need to get rid of the source, if they don’t have a breeding ground they cannot reproduce and they will eventually die out. The breeding ground for drain flies is easy to find as they don’t stray too far. It most likely will be the drain closest to where they are found in your house. If you want to be sure that you have found the correct drain, you can cover it up with tape and wait a day. If it is the correct one, then there should be drain flies stuck to tape when you remove it. To destroy the breeding ground, you need to thoroughly clean your drain. This would require you scrubbing the inside with a wire brush to remove all the scum sitting in the drain pipe. Hot water can also be used to dislodge it. Removing the trap might be necessary to ensure that you have removed all of the possible eggs.

  To catch the adults, you can use a fly trap, either a store bought one or a homemade trap. There are many different recipes, but apple cider vinegar works a charm. Though, once you have removed the eggs the adults should die out soon after with nothing to replace them.

• Fruit Flies

  Anyone who likes to have fresh fruit in their house will know of the problem with fruit flies. They are a similar size to drain flies, though they are much narrower. They are commonly found near fresh or rotten fruit, this is because they are highly attracted to fruit and have been known to come from far distances after detecting your fruit. They lay their eggs in moist, fermenting organic matter, so that apple which you have left for slightly too long will be the perfect breeding ground for them. Though they are well known for liking fruit they are also known to like pools of water which are seldom disturbed, and this might include drains in your house which you seldom use.

  How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
  Fruit flies breed rapidly, so simply trapping them will not get rid of an infestation. To fully rid your house of fruit flies, you need to find the source of them and remove it. The obvious starting point is any fruit which is overripe or rotten, make sure to regularly throw out any fruit or vegetables which are not going to be consumed. Also, when buying fruit, wash it immediately to clean off any larvae or eggs which were already on it. If you don’t have any fruit, the next step is to check your garbage and your drains. Fruit flies are looking for any moist decomposing matter, and so regular garbage removal and drain cleaning should get rid of any eggs. Dealing with the adults is the easy part, fruit flies love apple cider vinegar and it is easy to make traps at home for them.

Following these few tips should get rid of most fly infestations, but if they aren’t enough you can always call us, at Art Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electric to give your drains a thorough cleaning.